THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME

Football is a common denominator that acts like a language connecting millions of people across the world. It creates interest and sparks emotions in a way that regular conversations usually fail to do.

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME takes metaphors and tactics from the pitch and applies them to work and home life in a powerful coaching experience.

The book accurately describes the life of football.

Nigel Howe

Chief Executive, Reading Football Club

Describes the influences of the game from a fan’s perspective. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Gary Mabutt MBE

Former Captain, Tottenham Hotspur

Yes mate, I like it.

Jack Wilshere

Footballer for Arsenal, 2008-2018

Creating a club culture for the England Team

Now England has qualified for Brazil 2014, common wisdom suggests we need to build a greater sense of cohesion. Should we bring people’s differences out into the open or conversely do we focus on the things we have in common? These last few weeks have seen some...
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WFH, xG and introducing xEMx ©

despite having doubts about these metrics, I’m unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon and taking this opportunity to introduce my own workplace metric, Expected Emotional Exchange© or xEMx ©
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The Language of Football| Blog 2012

This is a partially edited compendium of the blogs I wrote during the 2012 Euro Championship. Euro 2012 Coming Soon Continuing the theme of blogging during big international football competitions, Euro 2012 is days away. The build-up (sounds like scum around a bath...
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Football; The sport of Apollo. It’s a messenger that speeds up when the journey’s end is near

As The Football World Cup is damned on the front pages for financial corruption and sexual exploitation and lauded on the back pages in anticipation of the forthcoming on-the-pitch carnival, it can still offer valid parallels for life and work. As a coach who extols...
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Window Shut, Bullying Over 2nd Sep 2013

It seems that the football transfer window, which shut twenty three hours ago is just an excuse for the bullies to flex their muscle. It’s a time when terms like ’Selling Club’ are applied to perceived weaklings and ‘Buying Club’ applied to the bullies ‘I like your...
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The World Cup Who Fell To Earth (is Joe Lycett a bully?)

If he was entirely fair in picking on David Beckham. His reasoning is that Beckham has benefited financially and image-wise as a gay icon, he even wore a dress once, and according to Lycett, ought to have condemned both FIFA and Qatar.

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Walk This Way. Life lessons from Walking Football

  Arriving at Barnet’s Hive to play Walking Football (WF), I felt that same trepidation and excitement as when I first played. I hadn’t kicked a ball in eight years and I later learned that others hadn’t done so in decades. As I looked around at this sample of...
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From Hare to Tortoise Eternity

Three months ago I made my debut as a walking footballer. Gis and I (we are both 58, he needs reminding, I never do), arrived at The Hive  at 6.55 pm on a typically cold February evening and along with a ‘real football’ coach and four or so other people we warmed up...
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Not My World Cup

global darlings Brazil, conceded seven goals to the eventual victors Germany. Everything else has been wisely forgotten

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The Glass Ceiling Stadium

As regular readers will know, one of my agendas in this blog is to use football as a channel for discussing seemingly unrelated but nonetheless important subjects. I’ve been minded for some time to discuss and give air to women’s football (and indeed I’ll do this...
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Time, Oh How It Flies

From baby seats to broken minds - what a grandfather’s view reveals about the ever-changing world When, some 18 months ago, I became a grandfather, nothing immediately changed that much. Other than the thrill of new life and the relief that all the parties involved...
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All The Young Dudes Carry The Muse

this current 4-month gap (that is happily now over) has not been the first time I’ve had a break from casting words into the ether, and the only reason I’ve maintained a respectable total is that there have been several periods in which I’ve written one or more blogs per week. 

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WFH, xG and introducing xEMx ©

despite having doubts about these metrics, I’m unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon and taking this opportunity to introduce my own workplace metric, Expected Emotional Exchange© or xEMx ©

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Public Service & The Downward Domino Effect

I prove the point by listing my current ailments, such as backache, creaking knees, and fears of a feeble memory.

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Children of the Evolution

it was an opportunity to do Christmas shopping, take in some frightful West End musicals, and commit acts of heavy-duty socialising that would be filed under the predictable heading; ‘what happens in London, stays in London.

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White Coat Syndrome (turn to God)

Before I read this official version I thought this syndrome was purely psychological. You know the scene, where the doctor lowers their half-moon reading specs further down their nose, looks you in the eye and gives the verdict. Heart-in-mouth, butterflies in the stomach and all that.

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Turn To The Write

I work for a government department in what we can broadly call recruitment and one of my key tasks is to help people find paid employment.  When I first meet a client I try in the first instance, to ascertain what they’d like to do and then what they can do. Last...
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Fresh Faced Imbeciles Laughing at Me

I guffawed so loudly that he paused, looked towards me and acknowledged my laugh with ‘You see”! I was so proud to have been noticed and included in his banter.

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The Cape of High Sensitivity

job is helping people find new careers and supporting them prepare for a new work role. It’s about managing change and shifting self-perception e.g. today I was persuading a former highly-paid investment banker that their present situation means they need to start again, perhaps as a bookkeeper or an administrator.

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The (World) Cup Who Fell To Earth

The World Cup Who Fell To Earth (is Joe Lycett a bully?)

If he was entirely fair in picking on David Beckham. His reasoning is that Beckham has benefited financially and image-wise as a gay icon, he even wore a dress once, and according to Lycett, ought to have condemned both FIFA and Qatar.

Read More